sudamerica 2009: condors, colca canyon, chachani, arequipa, fun, fun, fun
19th-mar-2009 - posted by dtra
been a bit of a delay between posts while i've been doing some stuff here in arequipa, just been waiting to finish everything (just means lots of pictures). anyway, arrived in arequipa last wednesday (these posts all start out the same way 
), and rested for a couple days before doing the colca canyon trek. went with land adventures which is an organisation that tries to promote sustainable tourism (so they say), it was a little more expensive than other companies, but it was great fun, and we learnt a lot about the region, and the communities in the area. the first day, we went to the cruz del condor lookout and saw a few condors flying around, unfortunately for me, i was at the wrong part of the lookout and missed the condor flying right over the cross (photo will be in the gallery), but that was cool. after that, we headed for cabancaconde (altitude about 3200m), a town on the edge of the canyon, where we had lunch, before heading down into the canyon. but first, some pictures from the cruz del condor lookout.
it was pretty funny, we went downhill from cabanaconde, all the way to the bottom, only to have to cross the river, and climb back up, half the distance again to get to our village, place to stay for the first night. by the way, the colca canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world at 3191m, though we didn't get anywhere near the deepest part, it's kind of inaccessible.
it was pretty comfortable, they actually had hot water, heated by solar panels, and the beds were reasonably comfortable, after a tough slog of a day, everyone slept pretty well. the next morning, we had a huge breakfast, before heading to a little museum, and then the oasis at sangalle, which was only a lazy two hours away along a pretty flat trail. at the oasis, i managed to have a bit of a swim, despite the chilly-ish water (good when the sun was shining), and also take some macro photos of flowers. we had lunch there, and basically spent three hours relxing before the hard climb back out of the canyon (1200m vertically), don't ask me if the pools are natural or not.
the climb back up really steep and difficult, but i managed, and got to the top after two hours, a few of the others rented a mule to take their backpacks up, they still had a tough time, but were able to go a bit faster at times. that second night we got to stay in a nice hotel with private rooms and showers, nice, so we got to relax a bit, and didn't really have any work to do for the next day, whereas the other tour groups had to get up at 4am or something to hike up the canyon. a few of us went to the lookout near cabanaconde the next morning, and caught a few more glimpses of those giant condors flying around the canyon. after that, we got on a minibus and headed back to chivay for some hot springs, lunch, and relax time. we ended up arriving in arequipa about 6pm, and even saw some vicuñas on the way back, too bad i had the wrong lens on, i still haven't got a proper picture of one yet 
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ok, so much for the colca canyon, one of the highlights so far for sure, it was beautiful despite not being perfectly clear. had a rest day on monday, and then went downhill mountain biking (they call it dow hill, sic, here), it cost $45usd, and i went down chachani, the 6075m volcano in the area. it took about two and a half hours to get to the starting point from town, and then about two hours to get back to town from there. the starting point was at 4800m, and the finishing point was at 2300m, over about 40km. i came off the bike three times i think, once quite outrageously. the roads (if you can call them that) at the top were ridiculously bumpy, just covered in rocks, my feet kept coming off the pedals. riding on sand/dirt is not my game, the tyres just don't grip, and i was swerving about, worrying about crevices and such, when the best thing is just to go though it, cos the tread is enough to go through the uneven parts of road. anyway, crashed right over the handle bars, head first on one really fast part of dirt road, lucky i had a helmet on. then the last part was on tarmac, and it was time to let rip in the high gears, though i couldn't get max speed because the chain kept coming off when i really started going for it (i still managed over 60kph though). it was awesome fun, especially the last part, which was basically straight downhill on tarmac, i reckon on my road bike i could've topped 80kph. my guide had this really nice full suspension bike that i saw when they arrived, and thought, yes, but i ended up with this ordinary bike with just front suspension (not too great at that), a bit better than the bike i had on the inca jungle trail maybe.
yesterday, i went to do some volunteering work with a local organisation that has work for a day schemes for travellers. it's called traveller not tourist, and they were building a school on the outskirts of town, it's a really nice idea, and i met a couple of good people working there, who had done full time volunteering for four and six weeks respectively. unfortunately for me, i came at a time, when they were between projects, and volunteer groups, the two people there are just leaving this week, and had just finished the office, and so, didn't want to start on the bathroom only to leave it started, but not done. i ended up just doing some painting and floor sweeping, but hopefully the money i paid helps at least a little bit. it was certainly good to see another side of town, not just the main tourist attractions.
anyway, that's it for me and arequipa, though i'm thinking of coming back in may to climb el misti (pictured), or chachani (also pictured) when the weather is supposedly better, but that depends on if i manage to climb another high peak in between now and then. i really like arequipa, it's a really nice town, i prefer it over cusco, and would definitely recommend it.
transport and accommodation
i got cruz del sur from cusco, and have to admit the service was great, i only managed to get semi-cama but the whole trip seemed very professionally run, at least as good as any in argentina.
i stayed at misti house near the plaza for my first two nights in two before the colca canyon tour, it was really simple, only $10 soles a night, so no breakfast, and lockers, but fernando (the boss) and his brother were really nice and helpful. they were also undergoing renovations while i was there, so maybe in a month or so, they will have better facilities. since getting back from the colca canyon tour, i've been staying at the bothy hostel, which is a pretty nice place with all the amenities, except lockers in dorms, but the little cubby hole lockers will fit your camera and important stuff, provided you don't have ridiculous canon sized lenses.
whew, long post, but it was a good week here, and now i head to ica tonight to do some sand boarding, as well, as to see some seals and birdlife at islas ballestas, then onto lima and getting closer to ecuador, but that's still a couple weeks away at least, i think.
el misti, the guardian volcano of arequipa, that is visible behind the cathedral in the main square when the skies are clear, this picture was taken from chachani, so it was a lot clearer than what you get in town at the moment (when the clouds roll in around 11am).
#33 dtra (david tran)
Last edited at 13:13 22nd-mar-2009
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